Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Thoughts from A New Earth

I've been reading a lot more than I have been blogging lately. It's just the natural cycle of things- I need to pour information into my brain so I can maybe get something worthwhile out of it later. The past few weeks it's been this book:

It's really deep and a little superfluous, but I suppose the author wanted to be sure to convey his message clearly. I liked how he brought a lot of spiritual quotes and insights from different religions in to support his stance on things.

Here are a few quotes that I want to remember from this book:

"Don't let a mad world tell you that success is anything other than a successful present moment. And what is that? There is a sense of quality in what you do, even the most simple action. Quality implies care and attention, which come with awareness. Quality requires your Presence."

"(Realize) that your entire life journey ultimately consists of the step you are taking at this moment. There is always only this one step, and so you give it your fullest attention. This doesn't mean you don't know where you are going; it just means this step is primary, the destination secondary. And what you encounter at your destination when you get there depends on the quality of this one step. Another way of putting it: what the future holds for you depends on your state of consciousness now."

"Some changes may look negative on the outside but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge."

"When you become comfortable with uncertainty, infinite possibilities open up in your life. It means fear is no longer a dominant factor in what you do and no longer prevents you from taking action to initiate change. The Roman philosopher Tacitus rightly observed that "the desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise." If uncertainty is unacceptable to you, it turns into fear. If it is perfectly acceptable, it turns into increased aliveness, alertness, and creativity."

"If you are not in the state of either acceptance, enjoyment, or enthusiasm, look closely and you will find that you are creating suffering for yourself and others."

And my favorite: "People believe themselves to be dependent on what happens for their happiness. They don't realize that what happens is the most unstable thing in the universe."